Everything Ashley Chastain Woodard said after Super Regional win in Game 1 over UCLA

Following a 9-2 win over UCLA in game one of the Super Regional on Friday, South Carolina head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard spoke to the media. Here’s everything she had to say.

Opening statement

Big win. When you feel in your bones that you’re one win away from the World Series, I don’t know if I can put words to it. We’re just so excited. I thought we played really well, and that’s all we talked about all week, is that we were just gonna have to play really well at this point in the year, because everyone’s good.

“I thought that we focused on ourselves, not necessarily UCLA at all, which is a strategy that we’ve taken all year. So really proud of the whole team, really proud of the defense. I thought both Jori and Sam looked really good. Big days at the plate for this one. Lexi Winters, Ari Rodi. We just had a lot of things going for us, and we played really well. So really proud of the team, and can’t wait to do it again. If I had it my way, we might play a doubleheader and just keep going. Sleep it off.”

Brooke Blankenship saw 21 pitches through her first two at-bats in this game. How much did her just battling at the plate help you all today?

“Yeah, I mean, Brooke, she’s a tough out. I mean, being on the pitching side like I think about having to throw to her, and she just is really patient. She really zones in on what she’s looking for. She walks a lot. Her spray chart has kind of shifted at times throughout the year, which makes it really hard to call an at-bat against her. So she was a really tough out.

“I think anytime we have an at-bat that goes 10-plus pitches, obviously a CPA for us, which is a huge success. But there’s just so much energy in the dugout. I’m really proud of her. It reallY helps. And you know, she’s in the middle of our order, and when the middle of the order does that, it makes the bottom better. And it’s just like we get into this flow offensively. So it’s huge. And I’m really proud of her.”

How crucial is it at this point in the season to have offensive production one through nine?

“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s a characteristic of teams that make it. And I think we have production all the way through, and then you have more than one pitcher that can get it done. I think the equation of that ends up in Oklahoma. So I think it’s awesome. And Q and Karley and Ari at the top have been fantastic for us all year. But I think it takes a lot of pressure off of them, knowing that there’s other people behind them that can get the job done. I don’t know if you can buy that kind of feeling this time of the year, that the weight of the world, or, you know, the weight of the game, is not on your shoulders. So I think it’s huge, and it’ll be the reason we go.”

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You said last week you were worried watching Sam Gress make a diving tag in a rundown. What’s going through your head watching her make a diving catch today?

“I mean, that was just an iconic moment, I think. And I’m fine with it. I’m glad she made the out. Sam is just the heart and the soul and the grit of our team. I hope the NCAA takes that photo of her diving for that ball and puts it all over everything from here on out, because that’s what the postseason is about. I’m just so proud of her, so happy for her, and really the whole team. And I just can’t speak enough about the gratitude we have for everyone who came today. I mean, just the atmosphere, and just when Sam made the catch, the atmosphere exploded. Just the feeling that you get, I had chill bumps on my skin and tears in my eyes in the dugout. I’m like, that’s what it’s about. You have that feeling that you can make a play like that from your ace pitcher in the circle.

“It’s funny, sometimes I look out on the horizon and I see Willy-B out there. And obviously, I’ve had a lot of really good days as a student here and now as a coach in Willy-B. And sometimes, I think in my mind, like we’re just trying to create a little Willy-B right across the road. We get to look at that stadium all the time when we practice and we train and we play. That’s the atmosphere we want to create here with the size that we got. So you could feel it. You could just feel it in the energy and the air. Today was awesome.”

You mentioned last week that you liked the Gress to Jori combination, but you flipped it today. Why?

“Yeah, I knew someone was gonna ask me that. So, without getting into too much detail about UCLA, I think that Sam presents some things that are a lot of their weakness. Sam is kind of like our left-handed pitcher. They got lefties all the way through the order, and so we really wanted to be able to leverage Sam in higher moments in the game, and usually those are later in the game. So, just to be able to bring Sam in at the right opportunity, I felt like it was the move for game one.

“And honestly, I had a lot of confidence in Jori because of how she’s thrown the last couple of weeks, so I thought she would look great and handle it well as being the opener. So it was a little strategy on our end, and then also tomorrow, we are the away team, right? So you know, tomorrow, like thinking about and scripting and pitching out on the weekend, we felt like the right opportunity was or the right decision was to start Jori and bring Sam in for game one.”

Ashley, those five runs in the first two innings with two outs, what did you see from the at-bats there against UCLA starter Kaitlyn Terry that allowed you guys to be so successful?

“Most of it’s up spin, and I know she has a changeup. I thought we could obviously see it well. We could see it well. We’ve hit rise well all year. So if you kind of look back at our offense, some of the tougher things that we have faced are actually down. So I thought we were going to hit her well, just because of what she presents, and we’ve hit rise well.

“I didn’t think the change was much of a factor, and it’s huge to get her out of the game. And she threw 1.2, so I thought we just saw it well. And these guys can speak more to that than I can, because I’m not in the box, but our preparation was really good off of her throughout the week. And I think we’re good up in the zone.”

How have you kind of instilled that grit mentality in this team every step of the way this season?

“I think it’s, it’s just who we are. And I think it started a long time ago. We talk a lot about if you want to play for a championship at the end, or put yourself in that position, like you don’t just make that happen in May. That started for us in August and September, October and November. So I just think the slow drip of mentality and the belief over the whole course of the year is why you see the things you see now. So I think it’s just unbelievable to me that they’ve chosen to believe that our logo is just as good as anybody else’s, and when you believe that, you never count yourself out.

“So it doesn’t matter what the scoreboard says. I mean, we really try hard not to even take the scoreboard into consideration. During the game, Ari just said she didn’t know there were two outs when she was in the box. But the thought process is awesome, right? It’s just like you’re just so in the present moment that I think, you know, whatever the scenario is, backs against the wall, or we have wind in our sails, whatever, like, we play the same way. So I think it was just like a slow jerk of that mentality over the course of the whole year that you’re seeing a lot of that right now. And kudos to them for playing the game that way, because I can talk about it until I’m blue in the face, but they’re the ones that live it.”

UCLA hits that double off the top of the wall, and then has their two big bobbles coming up in the first inning. Does that moment in the game mean anything in terms of momentum?

“I mean, yeah. I would be lying if I said we weren’t trying to figure some stuff out in the dugout. Even the top of their order is ridiculously good. So, yeah, I thought that they hit the ball actually better at the beginning. We were trying to figure it out in the dugout of, like, okay, what are they looking for, you know, are we missing? Winnie and I communicate a lot during the games, even when she’s behind the plate. So we’re just trying to figure out, like, are we missing, or are they hunting something we’re throwing? Are we just not in sequence? Well, like, whatever it was. But, yeah, I mean, I think we, early on, felt like they were striking the ball up really well. And I thought Jori settled in and got better as she threw, and then, obviously, we brought Sam in at the right time. But that was a huge strikeout on Jori’s part, right before we brought Sam in. That was a big moment of the game for us.”

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